System: iOS, iPadOS, Android, Nintendo Switch
Original Release Date: July 18, 2019
Publisher: thatgamecompany
Sky: Children of Light is a beautiful game with a wonderful aesthetic similar to Journey and seeing that it was developed from thatgamecompany, it would make sense that they are visually similar even when the environments are vastly different. When I started Sky, I did not know that it was an online multiplayer game and I also did not know that it had been out since 2019 and was a mobile game. I pretty much knew nothing about this title before I saw the article come up on the news feed section of my Nintendo Switch. All I saw was that it was a free-to-play game being offered by thatgamecompany and I was all in.
So I started and was slightly confused by the intro, but only in an "I'm not sure exactly what the story is telling me and how much I am going to need to know/remember for this game to make any sense" but was immediately taken in by how gorgeous the world looked.
Running over sandy windswept landscapes towards points of interest that I knew nothing about with a gilded mountain tower far away in the sky watching my every move was oddly fun. I had only an inkling of an idea as to what I was doing and why I was seemingly collecting candlelight. For the first 30 minutes or so though, the actual sky was more of an aspiration than a starting point, but I was okay with the title not being the first part of the game.
As I progressed through the opening areas, I was enjoying myself immensely. Finding glimmering shades of spirits and witnessing an apparently important moment in their lives and helping them (somehow) to pass on into the sky. This was a video game-related attainable goal I could get behind as I knew that I had to collect three before I too could venture into the sky.
It was sometime around that moment (or shortly thereafter) that I was presented with a very cut-and-dry Here is What You Are Doing and Why screen that felt a little too directiony, which I recognize is a strange statement considering my previous stance of not knowing what I was doing or why. While I did appreciate being told what I was doing and why I was doing it, I think I really enjoy being able to uncover that through actions rather than right upfront. I know, I can be contradictory at times.
So I saved the remaining spirits, learned three new expressions that I was still a little unsure as to why these existed but perhaps I would need to express to future spirits to help them reach the sky, and was allowed to pass into the sky and finally allowed to fly! The flying mechanic however felt strange. I had inverted the y-axis controls (because of course, I did) but still, the flying never felt intuitive. I understood the in-game mechanic of the meter and being able to recharge that meter while flying through clouds but I always felt that I was either banking one direction or another or on the verge of nose-diving into nothingness. But I eventually reached the entrance to the castle/temple at the top of the clouds and that was where I met my first other person.
The other character who looked similar to my character approached me and I was given the option of interacting with them, so I did. I offered them a candle, they offered it back and it asked me to name them. I really had no idea what to do as I oddly felt that I needed to come up with a name quickly, so I chose "The First Friend" as their name. Almost immediately after, there was another character who showed up and I did the same actions, befriending this other character and named them "The Second." But as I was doing this, I noticed that The First Friend was moving in a way that did not make sense for a computer-controlled character. They were somewhat spastic like they were looking around the environment, like how I would do in a game that I recently started playing. That was when I realized that these two characters were not in fact computer-controlled, but other real players like myself. And I immediately felt awkward. I was not sure what I was supposed to be doing with The First Friend if I was expected to now start playing the game with them, following them, or what. Then with The Second, while looking through expressions, we ended up holding hands. As in our characters were holding hands and The Second was leading my character around with me not able to immediately break away. I did find out how to let go of holding hands, but it was a very uncomfortable experience, being lead around and not really wanting to, just wanting to experience this game on my own.
I was then greeted with the above screen, all about maintaining a friendship. This made the game more awkward for me. As far as I could tell, there was no option of voice chat, and there did not seem to be any in-game benefit to having friends. How could I communicate that I was still going after the second spirit in an area and they were going for the last one? How would I ever find the same friend again if either of us signed off? If I only played for an hour and they played for two more hours, how would that friendship make any sense if we are not exploring the same area together? And most importantly, were there areas of the game that were only accessible if you approached them with a friend or had a certain number of friends or had a specific friend emote to that you can only earn after having so many friends? I did not like this. This was not the game that I thought I was starting. And to answer at least one of those questions, according to a loading screen tip, you may need to be actively playing with at least one friend to either access or make it through at least one area.
This now brings me to seasons. At the time, I did not know that this game had already been out for almost two years and that seasons were something in the game, whatever that means in this particular game. When you start the game, it tells you how many days are left in the current season, but no word on what happens. Do you have to collect/save all the spirits in each area before the end of the current season or else it resets? Are new areas opened up each season making the game run essentially forever? I still do not have an answer for that and I have not played the game since July 6th, at the start of the current season.
Right now, I feel like I probably will not be playing Sky: Children of Light for too much longer if at all. In each area where you save spirits when you finish, you are told at the temple if you missed any. Having gone through the first two areas, I discovered that I was still missing three spirits in each area and I feel that I scoured the first area pretty completely, but the game prompts you to ask friends for help/direction in finding the remaining spirits. I even had a prompt pop up while wandering around asking if I would help to find spirits, but not knowing where they were myself, I left the prompt unanswered. And it comes back again to interacting with other players in order to progress, or at least the impression that that is what you are supposed to do. The game is beautiful, no doubt, and the music composed by Vincent Diamonte is equally gorgeous and even comes across as dynamic based on what you are doing within the game, but the perceived co-op aspect of the game is something that does not attract me to continue playing and to some extent is pushing me away from continuing.
So I guess maybe that is my answer? Maybe one more play and that will lead to my ultimate decision if I have not already made up my mind.
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